Generally, liquids used for cooking in a kitchen, such as a variety of oils and sources, and the like, are stored in containers. An openable/closable stopper is coupled to an inlet of the liquid container. Conventional container stoppers have been disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration Nos. 20-0445206 and 20-0425667.
Referring to FIG. 1, an example of the conventional container stoppers will be in detail explained. The conventional container stopper 1 includes a lower stopper part 3 coupled to an inlet of a container and an upper stopper part 5 for selectively opening and closing an opening 3b of the lower stopper part 3. The lower stopper part 3 and the upper stopper part 5 are connected unitarily with each other by means of a hinge band 4 so that the upper stopper part 5 can perform the swing opening and closing manipulation, without being lost. Further, the lower stopper part 3 has an inlet and outlet hole 3a formed at the inside thereof in such a manner as to have a smaller diameter than the inlet of the container, and through the inlet and outlet hole 3a, an appropriate amount of liquid can be discharged from the container.
In this case, a handle 5a is disposed on one side of the upper stopper part 5 to allow the opening and closing manipulation of the upper stopper part 5 to be easily carried out. Further, a sealing protrusion portion 6 is formed protrudingly from one surface of the upper stopper part 5 in such a manner as to be coupled to the inner circumferential surface of the opening 3b of the lower stopper part 3 to seal the inlet and outlet hole 3a of the lower stopper part 3. Furthermore, a locking projection 6a is formed protrudingly from the outer circumference surface of the sealing protrusion portion 6 in such a manner as to be locked correspondingly onto a stepped projection 3c formed on the outside edge of the opening 3b of the lower stopper part 3.
However, the conventional container stopper 1 has one coupling structure between the stepped projection 3c and the locking projection 6a so as to maintain the coupled state of the upper stopper part 5, and in this case, most of the locking portion of the upper stopper part 5 is located on the outside edge of the lower stopper part 3. In more detail, the shock applied from the outside is transmitted just to the locking portion of the upper stopper part 5.
Accordingly, undesirably, the upper stopper part 5 may open easily due to the shock generated during the distribution process or storage of the product or due to an external force not applied thereto such as incomplete capping, contamination caused by the content (oil, etc.), and the like.
In addition, the fixed force of the upper stopper part 5 to the lower stopper part 3 may become weakened due to the abrasion of the locking projection 6a caused while the upper stopper part 5 is being repeatedly open and closed to use the content contained in the container.